hankyoreh

Buddhist leaders encouraged the government to repent for mishandling certain issues after the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it will punish the leaders of the People’s Countermeasure Council against Mad Cow Disease and the Korea Solidarity of Progressive Movement, saying that from the early stages of the candlelight demonstrations, the two groups had planned to carry out “illegal acts.” However, the “evidence” offered by the police consists of documents that have already been revealed on the Internet and this has invited the criticism that police are conducting unreasonable investigations and inventing reasons to prosecute people who have been involved in organizing the candlelight rallies.

During a briefing on July 4, the police said that they had secured a number of documents showing that the two groups had carefully planned what they said were “illegal rallies.” Police obtained the documents in a raid of the groups’ offices conducted on June 30. The police say the documents contain evidence that the two groups organized “illegal street demonstrations” and provided a detailed plan of action to people at the rallies.

The documents confiscated by the police, some of which were press releases, have been openly distributed on the Internet and at the rallies by the two organizations. In a press release distributed on June 20, the People’s Countermeasure Council urged people to join its campaign to build a mud wall at the demonstration site and help them make sand bags that would also be used in the demonstration. One document seized by police at the office of the Korea Solidarity of Progressive Movement can be read by anyone on the bulletin board of the group’s Internet site.

The police are also attempting to target the leaders of the organizations, by bringing their ideologies into question. On June 30, police went to the home of KSPM member Hwang Sun-won, saying he was under investigation for possessing materials containing “expressions benefiting the enemy.” One document they found contained the phrase, “A republic is a society in which real human rights are guaranteed.”

It was reported that the police had submitted the documents to the court as “reference materials,” which are used in the process of requesting an arrest warrant.

Many netizens have posted comments that are critical of the police on the National Police Agency’s Internet site, including one person who wrote, “We call ourselves a democratic republic. What kind of meaning does that have when people can be investigated for possessing material containing ‘expressions benefiting the enemy’?”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]